Ubers Spotlight: Marshadow

By DeathByWobbuffet.
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Art

Art by aXl.

Introduction

Ever since it was announced, Marshadow has been hyped up as a huge threat in the Ubers metagame, and it's not difficult to see why. It packs an unresisted Ghost / Fighting STAB combination that makes it very difficult to switch into, and it has moves to get around the few Pokémon that can take its powerful STAB attacks, such as Hidden Power Ice for Zygarde-C and Mega Salamence and Rock Tomb for Ho-Oh. Its access to Technician-boosted Shadow Sneak and an excellent Speed tier that allows it to outpace maximum Speed Arceus formes make it particularly difficult for offense to deal with. Marshadow's signature move, Spectral Thief, also allows it to steal boosts from a number of offensive staples like Mega Lucario and Arceus-Ghost and shut them down. On the other hand, its wallbreaking sets have potential thanks to its access to Bulk Up and a one-time 195-Base Power Ghost-type STAB attack with Marshadium Z, allowing it to choose its matchups. These many positive traits make Marshadow a versatile offensive threat in the Ubers metagame.

Hot Sets

Marshadow

This is Marshadow's standard all-out attacker set. Close Combat is the main STAB move and hits the majority of the metagame very hard thanks to its high Base Power alongside the Life Orb and STAB boosts. The defense drops that come with it are mostly irrelevant because Marshadow's defensive stats are already poor. Spectral Thief hits Pokémon that resist Close Combat such as Arceus-Fairy and Ho-Oh for decent neutral damage and allows it to threaten Ghost- and Psychic-types like Giratina-O and Lunala. It is also useful to steal boosts from Pokémon such as Arceus-Ghost, Mega Lucario, and Swords Dance Primal Groudon, with Marshadow's presence alone often being enough to deter these Pokémon from choosing to set up. Shadow Sneak allows Marshadow to beat Pokémon such as Deoxys-A and Mega Mewtwo Y and revenge kill weakened faster Pokémon such as Xerneas after a Geomancy and Lunala after a Z-Hypnosis. The last moveslot depends on the team and the user's preference; Hidden Power Ice breaks through Zygarde-C and Mega Salamence, while Rock Tomb takes care of Ho-Oh. Both of these moves also notably receive a boost from Technician.

Marshadow

Bulk Up sets also have potential, largely because of Marshadium Z. Spectral Thief + Marshadium Z gives Marshadow access to its 195-Base Power signature Z-Move, Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike. At +1, it hits ridiculously hard and allows Marshadow to break through some of its regular checks such as Arceus-Fairy, Toxapex, and Ho-Oh after some chip damage. This heavily improves Marshadow's matchup against bulkier teams, as it tends to find many opportunities to set up a Bulk Up and sweep versus staples of such teams. Close Combat breaks the Dark-types that resist Spectral Thief such as Yveltal and Tyranitar, as well as Chansey and Blissey. Even though this set excels versus defensive teams, Shadow Sneak is still an option to beat fast Ghost- and Psychic-types. Alternatively, Substitute further improves Marshadow's matchup against stall, allowing it to avoid weaker moves like Toxapex's Scald, Lugia's Ice Beam, and Zygarde-C's Dragon Tail and making it even more difficult for defensive cores to deal with.

Good Cores

Marshadow Groudon

Offensive Stealth Rock Primal Groudon is an excellent Life Orb Marshadow partner for its ability to set up Stealth Rock and keep it on the field by pressuring most anti-hazard Pokémon with Swords Dance, allowing Marshadow to pick up more KOs. Primal Groudon is also able to take advantage of a number of Life Orb Marshadow answers such as Toxapex and Ho-Oh with Precipice Blades and Rock Tomb, respectively. It also provides a switch-in to certain Marshadow checks like Arceus-Fairy and Choice Scarf Xerneas. In return, Marshadow's Ghost typing allows it to prevent Rapid Spin users such as Excadrill and Cloyster from removing Primal Groudon's Stealth Rock from the field. Marshadow can also beat a number of Primal Groudon switch-ins like Giratina-O and Lugia, and it can also surprise Zygarde-C with a Technician-boosted Hidden Power Ice.

Marshadow Arceus-Fairy

Stealth Rock support from Arceus-Fairy allows Marshadow to pick up more KOs, improving its chance of breaking through Toxapex and support Arceus formes with a +1 Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike, allowing it to punch through defensive teams more easily. Arceus-Fairy can also notably set up Stealth Rock versus Mega Sableye, as well as beating Defog Giratina-O and crippling Defog Arceus formes with Toxic. Additionally, it can pressure Zygarde-C, which is one of the best defensive answers to Bulk Up Marshadow. In return, Marshadow can beat and sometimes even set up on the Steel-types that threaten Arceus-Fairy such as Celesteela, Ferrothorn, and Bronzong. It's also able to check Mega Gengar, which can trap and eliminate Arceus-Fairy, as well as luring in Toxapex and eliminating it with a +1 Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike after a little chip damage.

Metagame Trends

Marshadow's introduction into the metagame has forced more offensive teams to adapt just to deal with it, as it's able to steal boosts from and invalidate many offensive staples such as Mega Lucario, Arceus-Ghost, and Swords Dance Primal Groudon. Between its excellent base Speed tier of 125 and access to Shadow Sneak, Marshadow is capable of easily beating a number of previously common offensive playstyles such as Sticky Web and Deoxys-S hyper offense. Thus, Arceus-Fairy and, to a lesser extent, Arceus-Poison, two previously niche Arceus formes, have become more common on such teams for their ability to beat Marshadow. Additionally, Choice Scarf Lunala has largely fallen out of usage in favor of other Choice Scarf users like Xerneas and Yveltal, as it is unable to revenge kill Marshadow safely if its Shadow Shield is broken.

Stall teams have also had to alter their structure to account for Marshadow, as they can struggle to switch into its unresisted STAB combination, and Marshadow's Marshadium Z + Bulk Up set is particularly threatening for its ability to punch a hole into a regular answer and potentially sweep. Defensive Pokémon that can handle Marshadow such as Toxapex and Ho-Oh have become far more common on such archetypes as a result.

Final Thoughts

Whether it be as a a fast revenge killer or a powerful wallbreaker, Marshadow has quickly cemented itself as a staple offensive Pokémon in the Ubers metagame. Between its excellent offensive stats, high Speed, and good movepool, it should never be left unprepared for when building a team. Give it a try!

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Puzzle Page

Alakazam art by Bummer

Art by Bummer.

Welcome to the twelfth edition of the Flying Press's Puzzle Page! After a long absence, we are back. However, our releases will be planned a bit differently this time; new pages will be released whenever we have enough puzzles for a good page, instead of simply every 4 weeks. This means your help creating new puzzles would be very appreciated! Check out this thread if you want to contribute.

Nevertheless, thanks to all of those who sent in their answers. Congratulations to adiass and 6Infernapes, who earned the most points last time for the previous set of puzzles! As usual, anyone who submitted correct answers has earned points on the leaderboard at the bottom of the page.

Thanks to all of the members of the puzzle team who helped out with the puzzles in this edition, including Mr. Perry, Drew, CloudyNatu, ILRB, and frenzyplant!

Anagrams

Anagrams consist of several Pokémon-related terms whose letters have been scrambled around. In order to solve them, you have to figure out which terms have been scrambled. For example, "Science Spy Hop" unscrambles to Espeon / Psychic. Remember that the moves are not necessarily learned by the Pokémon!

  1. Dentist Transports Samurai [3 Terms: Pokémon, Item, Ability]
  2. Unskilled Cockroaches Offend [3 Terms: Move, Gym Leader, Main Series Location)
  3. Buzzed Monks Squash Near Mice [3 Terms: Pokémon, Move, Move]

Parameters

By using the /dexsearch command on Pokémon Showdown, find out which parameters match only the Pokémon listed. For example, say you are given these Pokémon: Bibarel, Bidoof, Pachirisu, Patrat, Raticate, Rattata, Smeargle, and Watchog. Even though all of them learn both Protect and Substitute, there are many other Pokémon that can as well, so the trick is to try to narrow down your options as much as possible. Parameters may include moves, abilities, tiers, generations, colors, and so on.

  1. Beedrill, Smeargle, Togedemaru (2 Parameters)
  2. Castform, Gyarados, Palkia, Smeargle (3 Parameters)
  3. Bouffalant, Escavalier, Goldeen, Nidoking, Rhydon, Rhyhorn, Rhyperior, Seaking, Smeargle, Tapu Bulu (3 Parameters)

Portmanteaus

Portmanteaus comprise several Pokémon-related terms, each of which is in a set of [brackets]. Each term and its preceding and succeeding terms must "overlap" with each other with two or more of their letters. All of the overlapping terms, when combined, will form one large amalgam of terms, which is your answer! For example, [Gen V Dark-type][Gen III Water-type][Gen II Ground-type] would form the term bisharpedonphan (a combination of Bisharp, Sharpedo, and Donphan).

  1. [Gen I Normal-type] [Electric-type Move] [Gen IV Signature Move] [Psychic-type Move] [Gen IV Flying-type] [Gen VI Signature Move] [Gen III Ability] [Normal-type Move] [Gen V Rock-type] [Gen I Ground-type]
  2. [Gen III Poison-type] [Gen III Water-type] [Nature] [Medicine] [Gen V Ability] [Pokémon with Levitate] [Location] [Gen V Flying-type] [City name (exclude the word "City")] [Gen IV Electric-type] [Fossil Pokémon] [Gen I TM move]
  3. [Gen VII Water-type] [Steel-type Move] [Gen V Rock-type] [Psychic-type Move] [Gen I Poison-type] [Fighting-type Move] [Gen III Rock-type] [Physical Electric-type Move] [Berry Species] [Gen II Fairy-type] [Gen V Fighting-type] [Gen IV Ability]

Cryptogram

In a cryptogram, every letter used in a message is replaced with a different letter. In order to solve it, you must determine what the original message is. The following phrase is a quote from a character in the main series Pokémon games. For example, a cryptogram of "VDWXQFR REBU AFRSUBKYTCA!" would unscramble to "Pikachu used Thunderbolt!", as each U in the original sentence is swapped for R, each E is swapped for B, and so on.

  1. "YKZM FCJY'M YLTVK. YLTVKBC YKJU Z IJU GTY ZUYL RLCXM, JUX Z NULR J QLY LO RLCXM." - Grunt

Cryptic Crossword Puzzle

This last puzzle is a crossword and has several clues listed below that will fit within the boxes of the crossword grid. Once you have filled in the grid completely, take a screenshot of it as proof of your triumph. The answers will consist of several Pokémon-related terms, whether they be Pokémon, moves, abilities, etc.

Note: Click the hint to go to the corresponding line.

Conclusion

The answers to the previous issue's puzzles will be posted here, and answers for this issue will be posted with the next issue. As usual, once you've completed one, some, or even all of the puzzles that this page has to offer, send your answers via a private message to Smogon's Flying Press on the forums (a Smogon account is required), with its title as "Puzzle Page: Volume 12". The deadline for answers will be 4 weeks. Good luck to all who dare to participate, and we'll see you again sometime!

Leaderboard

  1. Bartimaeus & Yellow Paint: 68 points
  2. 6Infernapes: 65 points
  3. Calm: 42 points
  4. AWailOfATail: 41 points
  5. Max. Optimizer: 34 points
  6. adiass: 25 points
  7. Someoneelse: 23 points
  8. Axel Rouche: 21 points
  9. Mowtom: 13 points
  10. Saywhaat: 13 points
  11. Silver_Lucario42: 13 points
  12. HikozaruYes: 12 points
  13. Seito Hakari: 10 points
  14. Robotjam2: 9 points
  15. EnemyJurist: 7 points
  16. baconbagon: 6 points
  17. {Pokémon_Vigilante}: 4 points
  18. flygonfanatic: 4 points
  19. Aragorn the King: 3 points
  20. Martin: 3 points
  21. SovereignC2: 3 points
  22. Pax Hamburgana: 3 points
  23. KnightsofCydonia: 3 points
  24. LeviticusBrynhildr: 3 points
  25. Vanillish Wafer: 2 points

Answers

Answers to the previous puzzles:

Parameters

  1. Trick, Screech
  2. Gen 2, Fissure
  3. Sturdy, Gyro Ball, Flash

Portmanteaus

  1. tornadustoxapexeggutorterrapidash
  2. archeopsybeamnesiapapaberrydelectricgembargolisopoddishedskinkay
  3. electabuzzwoleafagengariteeterdancelebraterrainextenderuptiondelugearuproaroftimefirstarfberry

Cryptogram

  1. "You can say whatever you want. A Pokémon, even if it's revered as a deity, is still just a Pokémon."

What's that sprite?

Pokémon Link

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